Rams’ top 10 of 2012: No. 7 – Field hockey season ends in triple OT marathon

New Canaan’s Bea Eppler gets out in front of a New Milford’s midfielder during the CIAC Class L quarterfinals in Brookfield. New Milford edged the Rams, 1-0, scoring in the 89th minute. (Dave Stewart/File Photo)

Published November 15, 2012

The emotions were overflowing in the moments after the New Canaan fighting in their CIAC Class L quarterfinal field hockey game against the New Milford Green Wave on Monday. For nearly 90 minutes, including 60 min were dominating, the Rams had battled tooth-and-nail with the Green Wave, with each team refusing to budge.

Then, with just 1:42 remaining in a third overtime period, New Milford gained control of the ball in the corner and sent it in front to an unmarked Emily Sanders, who delivered the only goal of the game for a 1-0 victory at Brookfield High School.

As she talked about her team’s performance following the contest, head coach Erin Gildea’s thoughts were with her 10 seniors.

“My heart breaks for my seniors,” Gildea said. “They’re such an amazing group and they’ve worked hard and played so well all season long. I thank the seniors for an amazing season and an amazing four years. This is just the beginning for them. They’re all destined for amazing things. I’m going to miss them.”

New Canaan (14-3-2) and No. 5 New Milford (14-2-2) finished even in shots on goal, but that statistic is misleading. The Rams had a 13-7 advantage during the two 30-minute halves, and had many more chances which were blocked by the Green Wave defense, which was stellar in front of goalie Meeghan Doris (13 saves).

The Rams also had a great performance from the defense, with goalie Emma Ball making 12 saves. Senior co-captain and center-midfielder Bridget Falcone was strong on both ends of the field, while Courtney Cole, Madison Seger and Alexa Ozimek led the defensive effort.

In the first half, New Canaan had the better of play, although New Milford was able to counter and generate some chances of its own. Both teams came up empty as the game was scoreless at halftime.

The second half was a different story as the Rams controlled the field of play and had several near misses.

Senior co-captain Bea Eppler, Falcone, Elizabeth Miller, Michelle Paturzo, Martel Bruno, Catherine Granito, and Isabel Taben were all in on the action, but the Rams were unable to slip a goal past Doris and the Wave defense.

“It was frustrating,” Gildea said. “I thought we had one there when it kind of went under the goalie’s foot, but the refs called a fair game and you don’t always get every call to go your way. We knew their goalie’s good and their first-round game (also 1-0) was similar – McMahon had a lot of opportunities and couldn’t finish. We had some chances and couldn’t capitalize.”

With the score still tied after 60 minutes, the two teams headed into overtime and the 7-on-7 format, with Gildea sending Falcone, Eppler, Cole, Seger, Bruno, Miller, and Ball out to start.

But the Rams’ pressure faded in the extra time, as New Milford’s speed began to take over.

“I give credit to New Milford,” Gildea said. “They played a great game, they hung in there and their speed is very, very dangerous.”

Ball and the defense continued to keep to keep New Canaan in the game, turning back five Wave shots in the first two 10-minute overtimes. In the third OT, the Rams had a few more opportunities, but were again scoreless.

Early in the frame, Eppler fired a hard shot through traffic and had the ball deflected and, moments later, Doris played a pass into the circle before the charging Eppler could get to it.

With just over five minutes on the clock, Falcone picked the ball clean from a New Milford player and brought it into the circle on the left side. She passed it across to Miller for a shot, but the ball went just wide of the post.

The game seemed destined for penalty strokes at that point, until Sanders ended the game, as well as New Canaan’s season, after 88 minutes and 18 seconds of play.

“(We) took a few more chances (in the third OT), but New Milford had the edge in speed and I think that made the difference,” Gildea said. “It’s tough when you get to that third overtime because the girls have no legs and it gets kind of fluky. One bounce one way or the other and that’s the game.”

While the players’ tears were obvious after the game, Gildea said she was sure her players would look back on the season and realize they accomplished a lot.

“They should be very proud of themselves and hold their heads high,” the coach said. “They got beat by a good team on a good goal. They can leave here knowing that they left it all out on the field and they played their hearts out. That’s been our motto for the postseason: No regrets. It doesn’t take the sting away or make it hurt less, but they should be very proud of themselves.”